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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28421910">drought!</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakebitewrites/pseuds/snakebitewrites'>snakebitewrites</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>rae's chatfics [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Glee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dalton Academy Warblers, Dancing in the Rain, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, M/M, New Directions as Family, Social Media, Summer, Texting, chatfic, oh the warblers r here too, pure vibes all around...</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:48:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,947</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28421910</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakebitewrites/pseuds/snakebitewrites</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Queen T @teeceecee<br/>okay but i would KILL to go swimming right now. does anyone have an illegal pool going?</p><p>Miss Mercedes Jones @helltothejones<br/>@teeceecee SOMEONE COME GET THIS CRIMINAL!</p><p>It's summer in Lima, and it's not going as well as anyone would like it to.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Blaine Anderson/Kurt Hummel, Mike Chang/Tina Cohen-Chang, Rachel Berry/Finn Hudson, Sam Evans/Mercedes Jones, Santana Lopez/Brittany S. Pierce</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>rae's chatfics [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2082657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>54</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>drought!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>hey y'all! this is the second chat fic i've written (you can find the first one <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382061">here</a>), and i've had this one in the works for a little while now. this has a little less chat and a little more actual narrative, but i hope it satisfies nonetheless!!! the songs i listened to a lot for this fic were mustang kids by zella day and who do you love by marianas trench</p><p>come chat with me on tumblr! @ <a href="https://kurtanaaa.tumblr.com/">kurtanaaa</a></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>my private story (Brittany's Private Snapchat Story)</strong>
</p><p>Snap 1:<br/>
[Video Description: Camera opens on Santana sitting on a stool at a kitchen island. She is smiling softly at Brittany behind the camera. Transcript below:<br/>
Brittany: (off-camera) So, Miss Santana Lopez, welcome back to Fondue For Multiple Various Assortments of People. Today, we're going to be discussing whether or not I have the evolutionary adaptations for boob windows-<br/>
(A loud slam echoes through the house. Santana turns her head to the front door and frowns.)<br/>
Santana: Who-<br/>
(The camera spins to the doorway. Kurt bolts into the kitchen, wide-eyed and a little sweaty, and stares at Santana. The camera pans back to Santana. She looks very excited. The camera spins to Kurt once more.)<br/>
Kurt: I have mean things to say.<br/>
(A screech of metal on tile is heard from Santana's direction and the camera moves back to her. She gestures at the stool she has just pulled out. She looks even more excited.)<br/>
Santana: Spare no bitchery.]</p><p>
  <strong>Twitter</strong>
</p><p>Puck @puckzilla<br/>
this is the worst fckn summer bro no one's pools r filled</p><p>Sam Solo @samevans<br/>
@puckzilla Mans is missing his milfs</p><p>Santana fucking Lopez @santanaf_inglopez<br/>
@samevans he's not just in the Actual drought... he's in a milf drought</p><p>Artie Abrams @therealartieabrams<br/>
@puckzilla Moment of silence for our struggling king</p><p>Queen T @teeceecee<br/>
okay but i would KILL to go swimming right now. does anyone have an illegal pool going?</p><p>Miss Mercedes Jones @helltothejones<br/>
@teeceecee SOMEONE COME GET THIS CRIMINAL!</p><p>
  <strong>Mercedes' Instagram DMs</strong>
</p><p>Thursday, 1:16 PM</p><p>tcohenchang: help girl i'm about to drop dead from heat stroke<br/>
tcohenchang: i'm near your house ish can i get a glass of water please!!!</p><p>cedesjones: Tina WHY are you outside babe? the heat warnings are in place for a reason!<br/>
cedesjones: I'm actually not home right now I'm at the hudmels. but that's kind of close?</p><p>tcohenchang: i hate it out here!!!!!! i'm on my way Kurt BETTER have some ICE!</p><p>cedesjones: hey t it's kurt if by ice u mean jewellery then yes i got it i am iced outtffhjhfjf<br/>
cedesjones: that message was funny so I let him send it and embarrass himself.</p><p>tcohenchang: ....the heat's really getting to people huh.</p><p>
  <strong>former goth bitches anonymous (Tina's Private Snapchat Story)</strong>
</p><p>Snap 1:<br/>
[Video Description: Mercedes, Kurt, Santana, and Brittany all on the floor of the Hudson-Hummels’ kitchen. Mercedes is sitting against the cabinets while Santana dozes on her shoulder. Kurt and Brittany are lying down on the tile. Brittany is face-down. Transcript below:<br/>
Tina: (off-camera) When did you two get here?<br/>
Brittany: (muffled by the tile) Kurt summoned Santana with mean thoughts and I wanted popsicles.<br/>
Tina: Oh! There are popsicles?<br/>
Brittany: Finn ate all the popsicles so I'm hoping the apocalypse speeds up a little bit and kills me viciously.<br/>
(The video slowly zooms in on Santana, still dozing. She flips the camera the bird.)]<br/>
Caption: i show up to the Hudmel home expecting Kurt and Mercedes and i get some wlw too????</p><p>Snap 2:<br/>
[Video Description: Tina's hand throwing an ice cube at Kurt and hitting him in the bicep. The ice cube makes a "thwack" noise. Transcript below:<br/>
Brittany: That was a really good noise.<br/>
Kurt: Tina, stop trying to jack my shit.<br/>
Santana: Wanky.<br/>
(The camera flips to show Tina's face. She looks baffled.)]<br/>
Caption: what does jack my shit mean. pls respond urgent</p><p>Snap 3:<br/>
[Video Description: Slow, choppy zoom in on Kurt's face as he lies on the ground. His eyes are wild and his hands are waving in the air. Transcript below:<br/>
Mercedes: (cut off by the video) -ut you <em>said</em> it you <em>must</em> know what it means-<br/>
Kurt: Mercedes, my thought process is soup. I have no idea what I meant by that. I have no idea what a non-sexual definition of jack my shit would even be. I've made myself uncomfortable and I think my neurons are melting.<br/>
Brittany: (off-camera) His enzymes are becoming denatured.<br/>
(Kurt tilts his head slightly and thinks on that for a moment.)<br/>
Kurt: ...Sure, Brit.]<br/>
Caption: first he refers to jewellery as ice and now he's saying his brain is soup this is the end of Kurt Hummel as we know him</p><p>
  <strong>Tina's Snapchat DMs</strong>
</p><p>quinnie! responded to your story: Good. He's evolving</p><p>Me: no!!!! not good!!!! didn't u hear Brittany his enzymes are denaturing</p><p>quinnie!: ...That's not how thoughts or enzymes work but I'll let you two have this one</p><p>
  <strong>spamtana (Santana's Spam Instagram Account)</strong>
</p><p>11:34 PM</p><p>[Image Description: Brittany lying on the bench in the backseat of a car. She's fast asleep with a jacket bundled under her head.]<br/>
Caption: she's so cute... after a long day of almost heat stroke bc SOMEONE (finn hudson) ate all the popsicles and she didn't get one. sleep with one eye open bitch.</p><p>Comments (3):</p><p>finns_spam: I DIDNT EXPECT HER TO SHOW UP AND WANT ONE THEY WERE MY GODDAMN POPSICLES</p><p>deepthoughtswithkurt: @finns_spam no they weren't. i bought them.</p><p>spamtana: @finns_spam buy your brother some popsicles motherfucker 🔫🔫🔫</p><p>
  <strong>Twitter</strong>
</p><p>kurt ✨ @porcelainhummel<br/>
it's two am and Finn just sent me kung fu panda meta as an apology for eating all the popsicles. what the fuck happens in his brain</p><p>Finn Hudson @quarterbackhudson<br/>
@porcelainhummel ITS ABOUT SUBVERTING STEREOTYPES I THOUGHT YOUD LIKE IT</p><p>Sam the Man @samevans<br/>
@porcelainhummel Be grateful!!! Kung fu panda is a cultural cornerstone!!!!!!</p><p>kurt ✨ @porcelainhummel<br/>
@quarterbackhudson @samevans ...i will admit that it was a little interesting.</p><p>
  <strong>Mike's Instagram DMs</strong>
</p><p>Friday, 9:42 AM</p><p>tcohenchang: when are you picking me up to go to pete's???</p><p>mikechangg: I just pulled up come on out<br/>
mikechangg: Ice cream time ladies</p><p>tcohenchang: !!!! yay ok one sec</p><p>
  <strong>The Fuck (Mike's Private Snapchat Story)</strong>
</p><p>Snap 1:<br/>
[Video Description: A landscape video of Mike and Tina sitting in the front seats of Mike's car. Mike is driving, and Tina is fiddling with the radio. Transcript below:<br/>
Mike: Y'know, I don't really have a problem with Gaga. I just think she lost her edge after Born This Way.<br/>
Tina: Joanne was good. I can't get into Artpop. It's not... great, honestly.<br/>
Mike: I don't know anything about her new album.<br/>
Tina: Chromatica? It all sounds like gay dance club music. Not that I have a problem with that! But I think I could go to a gay bar and there would just be a bunch of twinks going <em>she has saved music with this song!</em> And the song is just beep beep boop boop rain.<br/>
(Mike's eyes widen and he turns to Tina.)<br/>
Mike: The twinks are Kurt!<br/>
(Tina shakes her head and laughs.)<br/>
Tina: The twinks are Kurt.]<br/>
Caption: @kurthummel_</p><p>
  <strong>Mike's Snapchat DMs</strong>
</p><p>Artie replied to your story: Why is beep beep boop boop rain the most accurate description of that song I've ever heard.</p><p>Me: RaaAAaAAAaAinnnn on Meeee<br/>
Me: You coming to Pete's? Tina and I just got here</p><p>Artie: Yeah, just pulling up now.</p><p>
  <strong>The Blackbird (Sam's Private Snapchat Story)</strong>
</p><p>Snap 1:<br/>
[Video Description: The camera pans around a round, bright red picnic table. The New Directions are all seated around it, each holding an ice cream cone. They each smile or make a face as the camera lands on them. Except Blaine, who is behind the table and is doing some kind of silly little dance. The camera zooms in on him and Sam can be heard laughing behind it as Blaine starts making faces at the camera.]<br/>
Caption: Ice cream with the gang.... pure vibes all around</p><p>Snap 2:<br/>
[Image Description: Blaine resting his face on the picnic table as Kurt pets his hair, which has begun to curl due to humidity.]<br/>
Caption: He says its too hot for vibes :(</p><p>
  <strong>singing fuckers (New Directions Group Chat)</strong>
</p><p>Friday, 11:13 PM</p><p>Rachel: Guys! We need to find a way to hang out! Today was too short!</p><p>Quinn: We did our best, but Rach, it is way too hot to be outside right now.</p><p>Puck: yeah i was sweating my ass off lol</p><p>Santana: what ass.</p><p>Tina: yes!!! drag him!!!</p><p>Puck: :/</p><p>Rachel: GUYS!!!!!</p><p>Mike: Honestly, I don't think hanging out is going to be easy at all. Especially since there's so many of us, no matter what we do it's going to be boiling.</p><p>Blaine: I'm sure we can figure something out<br/>
Blaine: I hate the water usage ban :( I want a water balloon fight!</p><p>Brittany: water balloon fights are only fun when im really thirsty :/</p><p>Blaine: Brittany, please don't swallow water balloons.</p><p>
  <strong>Blaine's Text Messages</strong>
</p><p>Saturday, 11:45 AM</p><p>Kurt H. 💖: get in losers we're going to encroach on warbler territory</p><p>Blaine A.: You always talk so sweet to me.</p><p>
  <strong>Sometimes Turnt (Blaine's Private Snapchat Story)</strong>
</p><p>Snap 1:<br/>
[Image Description: Kurt driving the Navigator and smiling, his eyes looking at Blaine instead of the camera.]<br/>
Caption: Going to visit some of the Warblers (read: crash their party)!</p><p>Snap 2:<br/>
[Video Description: Sebastian standing behind a kitchen island yelling the words to Hollywood Dream by Ayesha Erotica. Transcript below:<br/>
Kurt: (off-camera) Can someone please make Sebastian stop rapping Ayesha Erotica?<br/>
(Sebastian abruptly stops singing and stares at Kurt. He starts gesturing sharply.)<br/>
Sebastian: Every day you are so <em>mean</em> to me about my <em>insane</em> rapping skills and for <em>what?</em> You are nowhere <em>near</em> my level of skillage!<br/>
(Blaine starts laughing behind the camera as he pans to Kurt and starts zooming in on his face. Jeff is sitting next to Kurt and giggling madly. Kurt just looks baffled for a moment before sighing.)<br/>
Kurt: You exhaust me.</p><p>Snap 3:<br/>
[Video Description: Trent squinting and looking pensive as Sebastian leans on his shoulder, talking loudly and without shame.<br/>
Sebastian: All I'm saying is, if I'm being nice now, I'm gonna be so nice. I am going to kiss everyone here. Even Kurt.<br/>
Kurt and Blaine, in unison: Please don't.<br/>
Sebastian: Literally no one ever wants me to have any fun.<br/>
(Trent turns to Sebastian and kisses him on the cheek. Sebastian stands still, stunned, before beaming at Trent. Trent beams back. The camera pans to Kurt and Jeff, who are also stunned.)<br/>
Kurt: What.]<br/>
Caption: @tcohenchang More people getting affected by the heat I think because what the living fuck happened to rat bastard Sebastian.</p><p>
  <strong>Blaine’s Snapchat DMs</strong>
</p><p>Santana L. replied to your story: this makes me uncomfortable. he’s gonna betray your ass</p><p>Me: Yeah probably. Or the lack of rain is just making them zany.</p><p>Santana L.: still don’t believe it but if he is a good boy and doesn’t blind any small gay singers then he may have a banana.</p><p>
  <strong>Still Blaine’s Snapchat DMs</strong>
</p><p>Rachel B. replied to your story: Stop communing with the enemy!!!!!</p><p>Me: But the enemy has air conditioning…</p><p>
  <strong>Sometimes Turnt (Blaine’s Private Snapchat Story)</strong>
</p><p>Snap 4:<br/>
[Video Description: A landscape video of Kurt and Blaine driving back to Lima. Blaine is singing Ironic by Alanis Morrisette while Kurt hypes him up in the driver’s seat.]</p><p>
  <strong>Brittany’s Instagram DMs</strong>
</p><p>Saturday, 7:32 PM</p><p>santanalopez: hey love, did the power go out at your house?</p><p>brittanyspierce: thats when the lights go off right<br/>
brittanyspierce: no we have lights</p><p>santanalopez: okay weird<br/>
santanalopez: thanks brit</p><p>brittanyspierce: wait did your lights go off<br/>
brittanyspierce: how are you sending these</p><p>santanalopez: i have data babe dont worry</p><p>
  <strong>Mercedes’ Instagram DMs</strong>
</p><p>Saturday, 7:32 PM</p><p>tcohenchang: cedes did your power just shut off???</p><p>cedesjones: no oh my goodness did yours?</p><p>tcohenchang: yeah :( literally nothing has power omg</p><p>
  <strong>Artie’s Text Messages</strong>
</p><p>Saturday, 7:33 PM</p><p>Puck: dude. did ur power just fuck off</p><p>Artie: Yeah. Apparently a whole chunk of the city’s power is down<br/>
Artie: If your power provider is Midwest Electric then the power’s gone and won’t be back up for another three hours at least.</p><p>Puck: ur fucking with me<br/>
Puck: no ac for 3 hours? fml this is garbage</p><p>
  <strong>Twitter</strong>
</p><p>Artie Abrams @therealartieabrams<br/>
Hey y’all, in case you haven’t heard, every house that’s powered by Midwest Electric is without power for the next three hours at least. Go make some paper fans.</p><p>Santana fucking Lopez @santanaf_inglopez<br/>
@therealartieabrams are you SHITTING ME? THREE HOURS?</p><p>Mike @mikechangdances<br/>
@satanaf_inglopez We don’t have power either. Bout to go to midwest electric and fix it myself</p><p>
  <strong>singing fuckers (New Direction’s Group Chat)</strong>
</p><p>Saturday, 7:52 PM</p><p>Finn: dudes how many of you don’t have power</p><p>Mike: Santana, Tina, Artie, Puck, and I don’t for sure. Idk about anyone else</p><p>Rachel: I DON’T EITHER IT’S WAY TOO HOT THIS MUCH SWEAT IS NOT GOOD FOR THE COMPLEXION I’M GOING TO DIE</p><p>Quinn: You’re not going to die.</p><p>Rachel: YOU DON’T KNOW THAT QUINN!!!!!!</p><p>Quinn: Okay<br/>
Quinn: I don’t have power either</p><p>Finn: ok well we do<br/>
Finn: so just come over<br/>
Finn: thats fine right kurt<br/>
Finn: we can hang in the basement?</p><p>Kurt: i was going to suggest that too<br/>
Kurt: blaine’s here and sam lives here already so we’ve got like… almost a third of this chat here.<br/>
Kurt: please come over. i don’t want you all to die of heatstroke. it’s genuinely way too hot to be without air conditioning right now and i’m concerned</p><p>Rachel: Your concern is so sweet!!!!! I will be there soon!</p><p>Santana: you don’t have to convince me i’m on my way</p><p>Puck: word me 2 see u soon</p>
<hr/><p>Mercedes made her way down the basement stairs. Faint sounds of conversation filtered up to her, rising in volume as she came closer to the source. The air was pleasantly cool, and for that she was thankful; just walking the short distance from her house to Kurt’s had left her breathing heavily and praying for the end times. </p><p>The rest of her friends had already arrived, and were seated in various spots around the basement, chatting aimlessly. Mercedes spotted a tray full of ice cubes that Rachel was occasionally taking cubes from, which she then ran over her face as though it were some kind of spa treatment. Finn sat next to her, looking vaguely concerned, but he didn’t question it. A few feet away from them, Tina lay on the floor next to Kurt and Blaine. Artie sat behind her, pointing out how to connect her phone to the speaker on the table. Kurt and Blaine offered occasional advice, but seemed otherwise content to lay silently on the cool concrete floor.</p><p>When Mercedes came to the final landing, Tina, looking up from her spot on the ground, made eye contact with her and beamed. </p><p>“Hey, Mercedes! I didn’t know if you’d come, since you still have power,” Tina said.</p><p>Quinn moved out from a corner to wave at Mercedes. “Hey. Your man is regaling us with X-Men comics rants.”</p><p>Sam’s voice piped up from behind the corner Quinn had just left. “The Dark Phoenix Saga just <em>can’t</em> be adapted to the big screen! Not the way it was done in the comics!”</p><p>Grinning, Mercedes walked towards where Sam and Quinn were seated next to Puck, Mike, Santana, and Brittany. Kurt blew a kiss at Mercedes as she walked past, and she caught it and smiled wider. Reaching the corner, she stopped, stood next to Sam, and spoke. “Oh, good. I love this rant. It’s one of my favourite Sam Nerd Rants.”</p><p>“See! If Mercedes likes it, I can’t be wrong,” Sam said, pulling Mercedes down to sit next to him. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and continued. “Anyway. Jean Grey is one of the most badass comic book characters, and Fox could never do her justice. Sorry, Sophie Turner.”</p><p>“Hey, don’t diss Sophie Turner.” Mike leaned into the circle, his face becoming serious. “That lady was in Game of Thrones. She’s pretty badass.”</p><p>“Game of Thrones <em>sucks</em>. Bad comparison,” Puck said, his voice muffled from where his face was resting on Mike’s thigh. </p><p>At this, Santana promptly got off Brittany’s lap and stood. All eyes in the circle went to her, expecting some harsh and loud rant about Game of Thrones - a topic that, personally, Mercedes would have loved to see her go on an extensive tirade about, if only for the surprise factor of it all. </p><p>However, to her great disappointment, this was not to be. Santana stretched her arms over her head in a smooth motion before letting them fall limp at her sides. “Okay. I’m bored of this conversation. Kurt, I’m going to discover this basement.”</p><p>Across the room, Kurt shot up into a sitting position. “I don’t know what that means, but no, you are not.”</p><p>“It means I’m gonna look for interesting shit. So you better hope you have something cool in here or I’ll start discovering the rest of your house, starting with Finn’s room,” Santana declared, sauntering over to the cupboard near the stairs. Mercedes sighed, leaning back against Sam and simply observing the antics going down.</p><p>It appeared that Finn did not appreciate Santana’s previous statement. He turned to Kurt and desperately said, “Please tell me there’s shit down here that’s interesting enough to keep her occupied.”</p><p>Kurt, however, looked pensive. He turned his head slightly in Santana’s direction and said, with one eyebrow raised, “Honestly, I’m a little curious about what Finn has in there that he’s so desperate to hide.”</p><p>Santana spun around, smirking at Kurt and beckoning him over in a manner that made Mercedes’ eyebrows raise and her head shake. She tilted her head to look at Sam, who also had his eyebrows raised, his mouth stretched in a way that Mercedes read as “I don’t know whether to be amused or worried”. They both looked at each other for a few more seconds, eventually nodding as they silently decided to be mutually amused and went back to watching Santana. </p><p>By that point, Santana had dragged Kurt and Brittany over to the cupboard. All three of them had begun rooting through it to find something that would satisfy Santana’s boredom. Or, to find absolutely nothing, in which case they would have an excuse to invade Finn’s privacy and probably discover far more about him than any of the three wished to. </p><p>Finn appeared to have given up on being concerned by this, as (for reasons known to no one) Rachel was now pressing an ice cube into his forehead and he had to direct his concern towards that instead.</p><p>Mercedes was just becoming comfortable with the lack of action, and had begun to cuddle into Sam’s chest when some Fall Out Boy type shit started blasting through the basement. </p><p>A resounding chorus of “<em>Tina!</em>” went up through the room as the girl in question scrambled to turn her volume down. Once it was at a reasonable level and Mercedes’ ears were only ringing slightly, Tina said, “Sorry!” and smiled sheepishly around the room.</p><p>“What in the hell were you doing that required your volume to be that loud, babe?” Mercedes asked. “If you ruin your hearing by being too emo, I’m going to laugh so hard.”</p><p>“Listen, Cedes,” Tina called across the room, not looking up from where she was scrolling on her phone. “I will be going the way of many other emo bitches before me. I’m carrying the torch of loud-noise-induced deafness.”</p><p>“That’s noble as fuck, Tina!” Puck shouted from the corner.</p><p>Tina laughed. She tapped something on her screen and the sound of Marina and the Diamonds filled the basement. This seemed to please Blaine, who began to sway aimlessly with his arms in the air, his eyes closed as he listened. Chatter broke out across the basement as everyone went back to their own business. Mercedes decided that her business would be cuddling Sam, and curled into his side. </p><p>“You good?” Sam asked, looking down at her once she had finally stopped shifting.</p><p>Mercedes waved her hand at him. “Yes. Carry on,” she told him, grinning.</p><p>Sam smiled, and seemed about to dive back into the nerd conversation they had been having before when a voice piped up across the basement. </p><p>“Kurt, what’s this? Can I use it?” </p><p>Brittany, whose antics Mercedes had nearly forgotten about, came into view holding a plastic storage bin full of tubes of paint and other art supplies. Kurt, who had moved to the coffee table to turn down the speaker when the music started, turned and looked at Brittany.</p><p>He seemed vaguely confused when he spoke. “It’s just paint we let my younger cousins use when they visit. It’s a little cheap but it’s very washable, so it doesn’t matter what sort of idiocy they get up to with it.” He paused, looking pensive. “I don’t think we have any paper down here though.”</p><p>Smiling slightly, Brittany said, “That’s cool. I was just gonna paint myself.” She sat down on the floor and started opening the bin.</p><p>“Ooh, body paint. Fun,” Santana drawled, sitting next to her girlfriend and reaching for a dark green tube and a brush.</p><p>Quinn rolled her eyes and stared up at the ceiling. “Santana, just do some doodles. Don’t make it weird.”</p><p>Kurt seemed like he wanted to object. However, after a moment, and some silent eye contact conversation with Finn, he shrugged. “Just try not to get paint on anything important.”</p><p>Squeezing pink paint into a palette that had seen better days, Brittany nodded absently at Kurt’s statement. She lifted a brush and started painting a heart on Santana’s shoulder.</p><p>“Wait, I want in!” Tina exclaimed. She walked to Santana and Brittany and started digging through the bucket. </p><p>At the sound of Tina’s voice, Mike poked Puck off of him (which Puck did not seem pleased about) and went to join them too. Tina promptly pushed him to sit and started painting purple swirls on his forearms. </p><p>After that, it didn’t take long for everyone to gravitate towards the bucket of paint. Mercedes stood and dragged Sam over, where she was promptly accosted by Brittany wanting to paint a pink heart on her too. Blaine tugged lightly on Kurt’s shirt, exposing a small amount of the skin on his side, and started painting the sun. Puck painted a dinosaur on Finn’s arm, Artie painted Quinn’s hand to look like a robot, and Sam had stripped his shirt off and was letting everyone paint him blue so he could look like an Avatar. </p><p>Once he seemed sufficiently blue, Sam moved over towards Mercedes and started painting red flames on her arms. When she looked at him quizzically, he just said “Disco inferno,” and went back to painting. Mercedes smiled and let him continue. At one point, Kurt wandered over to her and painted pattern designs on her shoulder, and, later, Rachel asked Mercedes to paint a small symbol on her calf.</p><p>“It can be anything you want! I’m collecting doodles from everyone!” Rachel explained, beaming at Mercedes.</p><p>Mercedes was feeling nice, so she painted a little Tony award next to the tiny devil Santana had drawn.</p><p>Sam looked over from where he was still covering Mercedes’ arm in flames. “Kinda looks like the devil has a Tony,” he said, squinting at Rachel’s doodle-covered leg as she bounced over to Quinn. </p><p>“Maybe he does. Isn’t lying a sin?” Mercedes inquired. Sam nodded.</p><p>“Well, acting is just spicy lying. Maybe it would make sense if Satan was an actor,” Mercedes thought out loud. Sam stared at her for a moment as if she had just found the secret to the universe and it had been in the back of the fridge the whole time. He then stared into space for a moment before abruptly going back to painting flames.</p><p>After a while, nearly everyone’s exposed skin (which, due to the heat wave, was quite a fair amount) was covered in miscellaneous paintings. None of them were cohesive at all, and some of the paint began to flake where the skin moved, but everyone was quite pleased with the results and started taking pictures of each design they could find.</p><p>Mercedes was listening to Brittany explain the names of all the unicorns on her legs when Rachel sat up abruptly and said “<em>Shhh!</em>”</p><p>Knowing Rachel’s propensity to get progressively louder when her <em>shhh</em>s weren’t listened to, the group shut up quickly. Tina even muted the music.</p><p>When the basement was silent, Mercedes could hear a faint tapping on the basement window and a sound like rushing water outside. </p><p>Artie caught on immediately. “Wait, hold up. Is it raining?”</p><p>Tina’s eyes were wide as she said, “I think it is!” She stood and ran to the stairs. “Let’s go look! Let’s go let’s go let’s go right now!”</p><p>As one, the teenagers made their way up the stairs, lifting Artie in his wheelchair to get up the steps as they walked in an amorphous blob. Eventually, they reached the front door, which Finn opened cautiously as though they were in a horror movie instead of a drought in Ohio. </p><p>As the door swung open, Mercedes was instantly hit with the smell of rain and the sound of water hitting the ground. The rain was coming straight down in sheets, hitting the porch roof and creating a hollow, metallic sound. Thunder rumbled ominously in intervals, but it didn’t feel frightening. It just felt like a wake-up call.</p><p>As they all stood, paralyzed, gazing at the rain, Finn walked out onto the porch. He stuck his hand out into the open, letting the water hit his hand and bounce back up before it trailed down his arm. Some of the water pooled in the palm of his hand, running through his fingers to join the rest of the droplets on the ground. </p><p>Finn laughed.</p><p>He ducked out from under the porch roof, walking down the steps and into the showers. As they all watched, he tilted his head towards the sky, letting the water hit his face and run down. Some of it hit the paintings littering his body, and the colours began to run and form tie-dye patterns on his skin.</p><p>Finn looked towards the group, still huddled in the doorway.</p><p>“Guys, holy shit. It’s finally fucking <em>raining.</em>”</p><p>That set them off. Immediately, they ran off the porch, stopping to bring Artie down and pull him into the rain with them. As one body, they moved into the road, and began to run up and down it, giggling with abandon. Rachel launched herself onto Finn’s back, the various colours covering her arms and legs mingling with the ones on his. Reds and yellows made orange, yellows and blues made some green, and every colour of the rainbow moved off their skin and onto their clothes and the street.</p><p>Mercedes couldn’t bring herself to feel sad about the loss of the paintings as the reds and pinks that had covered her arms made the water into a deeply appealing shade of magenta. All around her, the pigments covering her friends’ bodies moved and bled into entirely new paintings and colours, dying clothes and skin. </p><p>Mercedes ran through the street, occasionally splashing her friends or simply standing to let the cool water run over her body, watching her friends celebrate in the rain. Lightning crackled through the sky, illuminating the soft outlines of clouds - so at odds with the harsh walls of rain that slammed onto rooftops and tree leaves. Occasionally, a breeze would run through, blowing the water on an angle and shaking the trees.</p><p>Coming to a stop under a streetlight, Mercedes stood and took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of wet leaves and August night. </p><p>The sound of footsteps on concrete alerted Mercedes to someone coming up behind her. She turned around to find Sam, soaking wet, still shirtless and covered in blue paint, grinning like he had never been so happy in his life. He came closer to her, sliding one arm onto her waist.</p><p>“Hi,” he said, still grinning.</p><p>“Hi,” Mercedes whispered.</p><p>She stared up at him for several seconds, soaking in the feeling of being loved in the rain.</p><p>Finally, Mercedes held Sam’s face in her hands and kissed him.</p><p>She felt his arms slide gently around her back, cradling her as he pulled her ever closer. He never stopped kissing her. She felt water run down her hands and, in the back of her mind, knew that the red-dyed water from her skin was bleeding into the blue on his. Maybe, when they pulled apart, they would both be dyed purple.</p><p>Mercedes took a deep inhale and wrapped her arms around Sam’s shoulders, squeezing once before she pulled away from the kiss to look at him again. Distantly, she heard their friends whooping and catcalling them, but she paid them no mind. She just stared at her boyfriend in the yellow glow from above them.</p><p><em>Streetlights glow different on August nights,</em> she thought. </p><p>A teasing grin spread slowly across Sam’s face. “Like what you see?”</p><p>Mercedes just kept gazing at him. “Of course I do.”</p><p>Sam’s grin softened, and he was caught up in staring at her once again.</p><p>Sliding her arms off his shoulders, she grabbed his hand and pulled him back into the street, promptly splashing him with a puddle. Sam laughed, and the two ran back to the colourful people waiting in the road for them.</p>
<hr/><p>
  <strong>Sam's Snapchat DMs</strong>
</p><p>Satan-a sent you a video<br/>
[Video Description: Sam and Mercedes kissing under the light of the streetlamp. The rain is pouring down relentlessly around them. Sam's arms are wrapped gently around Mercedes' back and her hands are holding his face. Catcalls of their friends can be heard faintly over the pouring rain, along with their footsteps and laughter as they run by the camera.]</p><p>Satan-a: thought you should have this video since it seems like your whole world got condensed into it.</p>
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  <b class="heading">Works inspired by this one:</b>
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        <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28969833">The Great Milk Thief of the Hummel-Hudson and Evans Home</a> by <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/kurthummeldeservesbetter/pseuds/kurthummeldeservesbetter">kurthummeldeservesbetter</a>
    </li>
  </ul>
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